[speirsfr]

I've read all the threads about OmniWeb 5 (most of which seem to descend fairly rapidly into a restrained flamewar about tabs). One thing I can't get my head around is how workspace checkpointing works.

Here's how I think it works:

1. You have a snapshot button in the palette. This is toggled either on or off.
2. If "On", the workspace continually updates itself to the state of the world 'now'
3. If "Off", you can surf around without changing the workspace's configuration and then go back to the last saved config (and maybe configs before that?).

Is this right, or is it more subtle than that?

[JKT]

I don't know how it works, but I envisage it as this:

1. You browse away and get to a stage that you would like to save - click a button and it saves that as a workspace.

2. You carry on browsing, but wish to go back to what you saved - click that workspace.

3. Want to work in a different workspace - click that one instead.

I don't think it continually monitors what you have done and records that as a workspace - I think you have to specifically save a workspace. However, it would be good if it did have a "this is what you were doing last" workspace too.

I could be wrong and await comment from someone at OmniGroup...

[ratlater]

Originally posted by speirsfr:
I've read all the threads about OmniWeb 5 (most of which seem to descend fairly rapidly into a restrained flamewar about tabs). One thing I can't get my head around is how workspace checkpointing works.

Here's how I think it works:

1. You have a snapshot button in the palette. This is toggled either on or off.
2. If "On", the workspace continually updates itself to the state of the world 'now'
3. If "Off", you can surf around without changing the workspace's configuration and then go back to the last saved config (and maybe configs before that?).

Is this right, or is it more subtle than that?

This sounds correct to me, but I think you have the button clicks backwards. I think you have your workspace with your saved sites and tabs and all that jazz and if you click the snapshot button it will freeze the workspace and remember exactly which pages you have open. So after clicking snapshot you can browse around and do whatever you want, then if you click on the workspace again it will snap back to the exact state it was in when you clicked the snapshot button. With the snapshot button off the workspace should follow your actions. So if you start with 1 window and 3 tabs, then open a new tab and then leave the workspace, when you come back your workspace will have 1 window with 4 tabs.

This is all guess work, so any confirmation would be helpful.

-matt

[typ993]

Originally posted by JKT:
I don't think it continually monitors what you have done and records that as a workspace - I think you have to specifically save a workspace. However, it would be good if it did have a "this is what you were doing last" workspace too.

From the demo of OW 5 I received at MWSF, I believe it will do this, as well as being able to save specified workspaces. From what the Omni developer told me, it saves the workspace config every so often, so you might now get exactly what pages were open, depending on how far you were past the save point. Don't know if you'll be able to specify the frequency of saves.

[Rickster]

Yes, speirsfr has it right. A workspace is by default set to "follow" any browsing you do, so that if you switch away and switch back, you're right where you were (in terms of what URLs are open in which browser windows/tabs, window sizes & positions, scroll position, etc.). Clicking the snapshot button records the state as of that moment... you can continue browsing in that same workspace, and restore from the snapshot at any time. There's also a per-workspace option to not remember changes as you browse.

The auto-saving of workspaces is event-driven, not time-interval-driven. Last I checked, we were saving out the workspace after every successful page load -- the only time restoring a workspace should not match what you saw the last time you were in it is if there was a problem (such as crashing on loading a page, or failing to save the workspace).

[JKT]

OK, that actually makes much more sense and is much more useful than the way I was thinking it would work... glad to hear it.

[speirsfr]

Thanks Rick, sounds like a killer feature.

* goes back to counting the seconds till 2/2 *